$53.5 Million Spent So Far Battling Fires

Prince George, B.C. – The B.C. Wildfire Service and the community of Williams Lake are keeping an eye on the weather.

An evacuation alert was issued for the entire community of Williams Lake last evening, all because of the forecast for Wednesday which calls for warm temps, and gusty winds. “We have many fires in the area around Williams Lake” says B.C. Wildfire Service Chief Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek ” It’s going to be a wait and see from here on in, obviously the weather being the deciding factor in that, which we are going to have to monitor pretty closely in the next few days.”

The latest estimate of people evacuated from the fire zones throughout B.C. is 14,365.,

So far, this fire season, ( which started April 1st) $53.5 million dollars has been spent battling fires which have raged across 43,000 hectares.

There are 219 fires burning in B.C, with 35 new fires sparked yesterday.

The estimates of the sizes of the major fires are as follows:

Ashcroft- covering 7300 hectares

Princeton – 2,700 hectares

Gustafson – 5,000 hectares

Williams Lake, – there are two fires, which are being managed as one. The Wildwood fire is estimated at 2500 hectares, and the 150 Mile House fire is estimated at 2600 hectares

There is also a complex fire ( several that have joined as one) in the Chilcotin near Hanceville, it is estimated at 10,000 hectares.

Assistant Deputy Minister with Emergency Management B.C. Robert Turner, is quick to acknowledge the resilience of the people of B.C. “What we’re seeing is an outpouring of support from residents. People are opening their homes to those who have been impacted by the fires. We are seeing a lot of compassion on the part of people in the province and a lot of support from others, for example the people from Alberta who have been providing support, particularly those who were impacted by the fire last year in Fort McMurray, that’s great for us to be seeing.”